Quiz:
See if you can find the foreign “World Character” in the official poster of the 2014 World Mascot Character Summit that features a picture of every goofy character. As far as I could tell, the poster has plenty of aliens but no “World Characters.” (Embiggen to 1170x1657px)…

As I have written before*, according to Japanese law everything must have a cute mascot—a yuru-kyara / —literally a ‘loose character’ or ‘floppy mascot’. And, the No. 1 in the mascot popularity polls in Japan is “Funassyi,” the official unofficial character Funabashi City, which is next to Tokyo. (wikipedia.org).

*Ok, ok, Funagoro didn’t really piss on the press. He and Funassyi are supposed to be pears and pears can get infested with worms. Funagoro has a green caterpillar up his butt that shoots silk with he gets excited.

← Our report on the mascot Brisky getting frisky at a Nippon Ham Fighters baseball game(3Yen / 2005-08-20) has been an all-time favorite with readers. That is to say, sekuhara/—the Japanese-engrish abbreviation for sexual harassment—is the national pastime in Japan like baseball.

Just recently I noticed that Brisky-kun has some real competition in the pervy department.
Move over for the hot babe “Buffalo Bell“— The new bovine kigurimi mascot of the Orix Buffaloes baseball team has proven such a sensation that she has attracted her own up-skirt problems…
sankakucomplex.com (ÑṠFW): Buffalo Bell – And You Thought Dollers & Furries Weren’t Hot!

It’s the law in Japan—everything must have a cute mascot—a yuru-kyara / {lit. ‘loose character’ or ‘floppy mascot’} (3Yen / 2013-01-31).

Yesterday, Funabashi city’s unauthorized* mascot character, Funassyi (Wiki), who represents that city just next to Tokyo in Chiba Prefecture, got into a bit of trouble. A faux Funasshii (sic) showed up at a major event and started “playing” with children until the police noticed the mascot was behaving oddly and hinky with the kids.

*“Unauthorized” because when the real
Funassyi visited the Funabashi City Office to be
authorized & supported officially, the Funabashi
Municipal Government refused to approve poor
Funassyi as their official character even though
it ranks No. 1 in the mascot popularity polls.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funassyi

In the idyllic negi/leek fields of Tottori Prefecture, a green giant emerges from the startled earth.

The giant is 40 m tall Japanese leek-onion—negi—and he is promptly named ‘Negi-Man.’ Local citizens quickly realize that he’s a hero not a kaiju/monster—Negi-Man becomes the popular champion of the people.

NHK W0RLD engrish | May 10, 2014Twenty-seven teams took part in an office chair race in Naruto City in Tokushima Pref.…The race saw three members of each [of the] teams taking turns to ride an office chair around a 150meter track…The team that went around the course the most times in the length of two hours won the event…more…

Notice how in the news video that the local mascot, “Uzushio-kun” (Whirlpool the Kid), just has to horn-in on the endurance race action even though he is famous for going nowhere fast in tight circles.うずしおくん — Uzushio-kun

You know your prefecture has a real image problem when all 45 of the official mascots are so unpopular that firing them all and putting mascot “Moppie” (R) in charge…

Osaka to ‘fire’ character mascots that failed to earn their keepThe Asahi Shimbun | May 08, 2014
…Known as “yuru kyara,” a combination of “yurui,” meaning lax, and character, they are created by municipalities, other public bodies and citizens to promote local attractions…
…But so far, none of the 45 mascots introduced by 21 departments of the Osaka prefectural government has had any success…Osaka Prefecture’s cultural department in charge of mascot promotion…recommended Moppie, a mascot created for the 1997 National Athletic Meet held in Osaka, as the prefecture’s core character…more…

…“Moppie” in charge?
Yes, you read that right. They are killing off scores upon scores of Osaka’ old lax characters and promoting 1,072nd-ranked ‘Mopey‘—meaning sad or glum. This was the best idea Osaka Prefecture could come up with.